Listen: Hot Palms – At The Blows

Hot Palms are a Melbourne-based group who released a drowsy, at times very sad EP earlier this year on Why Don’t You Believe Me?. That label is operated by Alec Marshall and he’s also the driving force behind this outfit, along with what I suspect is a rotating line-up of recruits. The EP, which you can order on CD-R, wavered between very lonely electric guitar pieces in the vein of Loren Connors on the one hand, and drum machine-backed summer introspection on the other. Always with that drowsiness mentioned above: late afternoon window staring and none-too optimistic dreaming.

Anyway, they’ve got a new track called ‘At The Blows’. It’s a brief drone-piece which sounds borne of an electric guitar. It carries the same listless aura as previous material but this one is even quieter, with a newly tapped dissonance lending a greyer, more dream-like air to proceedings. It’s pretty sentimental stuff, all orange ocean horizons and faded family portraits. It’s also very pretty.

Hot Palms have a residency at the Sporting Club Hotel in Melbourne this month. Check out the details here.